Hosiery



July 22. 1941. E. ElssNER Erm. 2,250,257

' HOSIERY Qrignal Filed April '7. 1938 j B 17 Y. Inv ente/:s E17/OIL .ECD'SSTzer .Arno Zd Verbeek' Patented July 22', 1941 HOSIERY Erichv Eissner, Chemnitz, and Arnold Verbeek,

Wuestenbrand, Germany, assignors to Kallo,

Inc., New York, N. Y.

Original application April 7, 1938, Serial No. 200,729. Divided and this application 'June 21, 1939, Serial No. 280,404

1 Claim. (Cl. (i6-187) 'Ihe present invention relates to hosiery and, more particularly, to a full-fashioned knitted stocking. made from a combination full-fashioned leg and foot blank knitted in one operation and in which heel tabs are thereafter incorporated by means of a separate knitting operation. The invention specifically relates to the kind of stocking shown and described in our copending application, Serial Number 200,729, filed April 7, 1938, of which this application is a division.

The invention primarily aims to providean improved connection between the heel tabs and adjoining sections of a combination leg and foot blank whereby to distribute the strain to which said connection is subjected during wear\of the stocking, the present invention constituting speciiic improvements over co-pending application, Serial Number 99,830, iiled September 8, 1936.

Heretoiore, it has been customary in manufacturing stockings of the character mentioned to form, during the knitting of the combination leg and foot blank, several partial courses at a point between the high heel sections and sole sections of the blank, said partial courses being subsequently cut and raveled out for the incorporation f of the knitted heel tabs, the latter having their normal upper marginal loops knitted onto the normal 'lower marginal loops of the high heel sections, and their inner selvedge loops interknitted in overlapping relation with the adjacent loops of the edge course of the sole sections.

That kind of connection, it has been found, results in causing all the strain to which the foot fabric is subjected to pull against the loops at each heei corner, that is, the loopsdisposed at the point where each heel tab is connected tothe adjacent high heel section and instep portion.

It is, therefore, one of the main objects of the invention` to eliminate the objectionable features above stated, by providing a novel method of procedure in interknltting the knitted heel tabs with the adjoining sections of the combination leg and foot blank whereby to produce an improved con nection therebetween, resulting in evenly distrlbnting the strain imposed upon the connection over a number of loops, thereby relieving the loops at the heel corner from most of the stress usually imposed thereon and, accordingly, avoiding the possible breakage of said loops. v

The invention is particularly characterized in that the normal upper marginal loops of the heel tabs are knitted to the normal lower marginal loops of the high heel sections and to the selvedge loops of the separated portion of the blank which provides a selvedge angle portion at the instep thereupon, set out a possible embodiment of the of the latter, the connection of thefinner selvedges of the heel tabs to the stocking blank thus being restricted to the marginal loops of the sole sections.

Other important objects and advantages of the invention will be in part obvious and in part pointed out hereinafter.

In order that the invention and its mode of operation may be readily understood by those skilled in the art, we have, in the accompanying drawing and in the detailed description based invention. I

In the drawing- Figure l is a diagrammatic representation of a portion of a combination full-fashioned leg and foot blank of the type to which this invention pertains.

Figure 2 diagrammatically illustrates the mode of engaging the cut blank with the needles of .a knitting machine for the formation of heel tabs.

Figure 3 is a diagrammatic representation of a portion of the blank shown in Figure 1 formed in the stocking part and showing the heel interknitted therewith in accordance with this invention.

Figure 4 is an enlarged detail diagrammatically illustrating the knitted connections of the heel tab to the adjoining sections of the stocking blank. v

, Having more particular reference to the drawing' whereinv like characters of reference will designate corresponding parts throughout, we have shown in Figure l a portion of a combination full-fashioned stocking blank i having the leg fabric il, instep fabric 3, high heel sections il, and sole sections which are all knitted contiguously in a single operation on one and the same machine.

1 In accordance with the known practice of knitting a' stocking blank of the type referred to, a plurality oi' partial courses t are knitted in the zone represented in Figure 1 between lines af-a and b-b, that is, in the portion ci the blank between the high heel sections t and the sole sections b. In knitting said partial courses the ordinary yarn feeding mechanism of a suitable commonly known knitting machine is caused to lay a yarn or yarns to form intermediate partial courses extending over the medial area of the blank, as indicated by the arrow A, while at the same time laying a yarn or yarns to form end partial courses extending over the side areas oi' the blank. as indicated ,by the arrow B. The

mechanism of the knitting machine to form such partial courses are matters well mown and understood by those skilled in the art and, therefore, a detailed description thereof may be dispensed with herein.

The formation of the partial courses, it will be understood, provides within the blank pairs of inner diametrically opposed selvedges 'l and 8 respectively, so that upon cuttingand raveling out the end partial courses within the areas B,

to separate the high heel sections from the y high heel section l and the marginal loops I2 of the adjoining selvedge 8- may be placed in engagement with end spaced series of knitting needles I3 of a flat knitting machine, the end partial courses 6 having been cut and raveled out, and the sole sections 5 and instep 3 being folded so that the marginal loops I6 of the edge course I1 of each sole section 5 may be placed in engagement with intermediate series of nonknitting needles I3a of suchmachine, with which loop transfer combs I3b are associated, in the manner diagrammatically shown in Figure 2, for the purpose to be hereinafter specified.

The fabric of the blank I being thusarranged on the needles I3 and Iiay the knitting machine is operated so that the yarn feeding mechanism thereof will travel back and forth over said needles I3, as .indicated by the arrows C in Figure 2, to knit a series ofcourses Il (Figure 4) as a continuation oi the loops I of the high heel courses II and of the loops I2 of the selvedges 8 to form the heel tabs, thus establishing an interknit connectionbetween the latter and the high heel sections 4 of the blank I, as shown at I5.

As the knitting of the heel courses I4 progresses, the loops I'I on the non-knitting needles Ila are successively transferred by means of the transfer combs Hb onto the end needles of the series of knitting needles I 3 in the manner set forth in co-pending application, Serial Number 99,830, filed lSeptember 8, 1936, for the interknitting of the selvedge loops I 8 with said loops I'I to form an overlapping interknitted connection 20 therebetween.

In wearing the stocking constructed in accordance with the invention, the connection of the heel 9 with the instep 3, high heel sections I, and sole sections .will substantially assume the formation illustrated in Figures 3 and 4. Because of that formation assumed by said connection, particularly at the portion 2| thereof.

assess? the loops of the fabric evenly absorb the strain which would ordinarily be imposed upon a single loop of the-heel corner X (Figure 4), since the strain is evenly distributed over the several loops I2 of the selvedges d. Moreover, due to the fact that the loops, by reason oi. the novel connection of the heel 9 with the instep 3, high heel sectioned, and sole sections 5, are relieved of undue stresses, the stocking particularly the,

foot portion thereof, may more readily adapt itself to 'the shape of the wearers foot,d thus preventing detrimental distortion of the loops and eliminating their major cause of breaking. It WHL-therefore, be appreciated that we have provided a single unit full-fashioned stocking of increased durability and lasting quality.

It is to be understood that any modifications l coming ,within the scope of the sub-joined claim are to be considered within the spirit of the invention.

What we claim is:

In a flat knitted stocking: an ankle fabric area consisting of a plurality of courses, the loops of said courses being non-reinforced and forming a selvedge Wale of non-reinforced selvedge loops at each of the opposite walewise edges of the ankle fabric area; a leg fabric contiguously extending walewise from one coursewise side of the ankle fabric area and consisting of a plurality of courses having their end portions projected coursewise beyond' the walewise plane of said selvedge wales of the ankle fabric area, the loops of said projected course portions of the leg fabric being reinforced to form high heel sections; a foot fabric contiguously extending walewise from the other coursewise side of the ankle fabric area and consisting of a plurality of courses having their end portions projected coursewise beyond the walewise plane of said selvedge wales of the ankle fabric area, the loops of said projected course portions of the foot fabric being reinforced to form sole sections; and, heel fabrics consisting of a plurality of courses, the loops of said courses being reinforced and forming selvedge wales of reinforced selvedge loops at the inner and outer walewise edges of said heel fabrics, each of said heel fabrics having the reinforced loops of a portion of acourse thereof knitted onto the reinforced loops of one of the projected end portions of a course in the leg fabric, each of said heel fabrics having the reinforced loops of the remaining portion of said course thereof knitted onto the non-reinforced selvedge loops of one of the wales at the opposite walewise edges of the ankle fabric area, and each of said heel fabrics having the reinforced selvedge loops of the inner walewise edge thereof interknitted in overlapping relation with the reinforced loops of one of the projected end portionsof a course in the'leg fabric.

ERICH EISSNER. ARNOLD VERBEEK. 

